Tokai Pharmaceuticals Closes $22 Million Series D Funding

-Company Developing Novel Compound to Treat Prostate Cancer

May 08, 2009 01:21 PM Eastern Daylight Time

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Tokai Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company that is developing a
novel therapy for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer, today
announced that it has closed a $22 Million private placement of
preferred stock in a round led by the Novartis Venture Fund (NVF). Apple
Tree Partners, which founded the company, invested alongside NVF.
Proceeds from the financing will be used to advance Tokai’s lead
development candidate, TOK-001, into the clinic for the treatment of
advanced prostate cancer.

Tokai Pharmaceuticals was founded in 2004 by Apple Tree Partners. The
mission of the company is to in-license promising preclinical and
clinical compounds in the area of endocrinology, metabolic disease and
hormone dependent tumors and growths. The lead therapeutic program is a
therapy designed for the treatment of advanced (castration resistant)
prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is a disease that kills approximately 28,000 men each
year in the U.S. alone. Prostate cancer is the third most common cause
of death from cancer in men of all ages and is the most common cause of
death from cancer in men over 75 years old. Usually when it is first
diagnosed, prostate cancer’s growth is dependent upon male hormones
(testosterone) and is effectively treated with therapies that induce a
state of low levels of testosterone, similar to those found after
castration. However, with time, the prostate cancer cells that survive
develop mechanisms to grow in the presence of low levels of circulating
levels of testosterone. Currently the only therapy approved for the
treatment of castration resistant prostate cancer is a chemotherapeutic,
Taxotere®. New therapies are needed to specifically address the new
mechanisms that allow castration resistant prostate cancer cells to grow.

Tokai Pharmaceuticals is developing a drug candidate that disrupts the
growth and survival of these cancer cells by targeting three specific
targets in the prostate cancer cell. The company’s initial focus is on
the development of this drug to treat this serious unmet medical need.
To do this it has assembled a team of highly experienced drug
developers. Also supporting the company’s efforts is an Advisory Board
featuring some of the most renowned scientific and clinical experts
within the fields of oncology and urology. Cy Stein, M.D. is working
with Tokai as its Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Stein is currently
Professor of Medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and
Director of the Medical Genitourinary Oncology Division. He is also an
Attending Physician at the Montefiore Medical Center.

“We now have a better understanding of the unique mechanisms by which
prostate cancer cells survive in a low androgen environment. TOK-001
exhibits biological properties that disrupt these unique mechanisms. To
date we have found the compound to be safe and extremely effective in
all cell based and animal models of the disease, and, importantly, is
orally bioavailable. These characteristics have allowed us to
aggressively move towards the clinical development of this compound”
said Scott Chappel, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of Tokai.

Reinhard Ambrose, Ph.D. and Campbell Murray, M.D. of Novartis Venture
Fund will join Seth Harrison M.D., Tokai’s Acting CEO and Managing
Partner of Apple Tree Partners, Joseph A. Yanchik III, CEO Aileron
Therapeutics, Inc. and David A. Kessler, M.D., to complete the company’s
new Board of Directors. Dr. Kessler is the former Commissioner of the
United States Food and Drug Administration. He served as Commissioner
from November 1990 until March 1997. Dr. Kessler was appointed by
President Bush and reappointed by President Clinton. He has also served
as the Dean of the medical schools at Yale and the University of
California, San Francisco. He is a Professor of Pediatrics and
Epidemiology and Biostatistics at UCSF.

“For patients afflicted with aggressive metastatic disease, there are
few options available to treat either the disease or reduce the immense
suffering that prostate cancer causes. Tokai Pharmaceuticals’ drug,
while still pre-clinical is an extremely promising potential advance in
therapy for all forms of prostate cancer, the best emerging opportunity
we could find, and we are delighted to have the opportunity to join
Tokai’s team” said Campbell Murray.

“Tokai’s compound, with which we expect to treat our first patient later
this year, is the most watched preclinical asset in prostate cancer
right now—as far as we can tell,” said Harrison. “We are gratified to be
able to mount such a top-notch and dedicated team—management, board and
advisors—all of whom hope to bring this compound forward to alleviate
suffering and to provide more high quality life for men with prostate
cancer.”

About Tokai Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Tokai Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company based in Cambridge,
Massachusetts that is developing a novel therapy for the treatment of
advanced prostate cancer. Tokai’s proprietary compound targets three
mechanisms that the cancer cell uses to avoid currently available
therapies. For more information please visit www.tokaipharma.com